Students for a Free Tibet
University of Arkansas Chapter
Organizational Meeting
Wednesday November 1, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Old Main 203

Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. We are a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, we campaign for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. Our role is to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwide movement for social justice.

The University of Arkansas chapter of SFT has been inactive for at least a year-and-a-half.  The purpose of this meeting is to elect officers, discuss the constitution, and other activities necessary to reactivate the local chapter.   Faculty Advisors are Professor Sidney Burris and Geshe Thupten Dorjee.

Additional information about the U of A chapter organization is available at http://www.nwabuddhist.info/sft/ .  There’s also a contact form if you will be unable to attend the meeting, but still want information about joining.

For information about the national organization, visit their web site at http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/

The Making of a Sacred Mandala
by Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee and Ven. Rinzin Dorjee

Location: University of Arkansas, Old Main, 5th Floor
Dates: November 6 - 17, 2006

Schedule of Events

• Opening Ceremony: November 6, 7:00 pm
• Closing Ceremony: November 17, 4:00 pm
• Daily Work Schedule: M-F 9:00 - 11:00 am; 2:00 - 4:00 pm

In 1988, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama allowed the construction of a mandala in the West to be opened to the public. This was done by the Namgyal Monks from Dharamsala, India at the Natural History Museum in New York City. His Holiness intended the mandala to serve both as a spiritual offering to the city and as a means to preserve Tibetan culture in exile. He also felt that it would benefit the community at large, since Tibetans believe that a mandala brings clarity and insight to all those who venture near the site of its construction.

Since 1988, mandalas have been made sparingly in our country, and we are deeply fortunate to be among the community that will gather around this sacred symbol. Mandalas serve many purposes in Tibetan life, but none is more important than the simple one of leading us toward a spiritual vision that arises from compassion and generosity and manifests itself in the visionary geometry of the mandala.

October 18 at 7:30 pm
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main, University of Arkansas
Admission is Free

Ten years in the making, this award-winning feature-length documentary was filmed during nine journeys throughout Tibet, India and Nepal.  CRY OF THE SNOW LION brings audiences to the long-forbidden “rooftop of the world” with an unprecedented richness of imagery… from rarely-seen rituals in remote monasteries, to horse races with Khamba warriors; from brothels and slums in the holy city of Lhasa, to magnificent Himalayan peaks still traveled by nomadic yak caravans.  The dark secrets of Tibet’s recent past are powerfully chronicled through personal stories and interviews, and a collection of undercover and archival images never before assembled in one film.  A definitive exploration of a legendary subject, CRY OF THE SNOW LION is an epic story of courage and compassion.

The Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock has announced the following retreats scheduled for Winter and Fall of 2007: 

February 2-4, 2007
Susan Stone will lead a retreat entitled One Step at a Time - Finding Peace in This Moment.  The focus of the retreat is on mindfulness practice and how we can bring mindfulness into our lives.

August 17-19, 2007
A residential retreat with Matt Flickstein at the 4-H Center in Little Rock. 

October 4-7, 2007
Bhante Rahula, the vice abbott of Bhavana Society, will lead a retreat on the Eightfold Path. 

For more information, visit the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock web site at www.ebslr.org

2nd Annual  Vipassana Meditation and Ashtanga Yoga Weekend
with Mark Cain and Joy Fox
December 16 & 17
Sat 9 AM - Sun 3 PM
 
Do you find yourself chronically overbooked, breathlessly rushing around, and watching life speed past you? Here is a chance to slow down for the weekend, with other yogis and yoginis, practicing meditation, pranayama, mindful eating, and ashtanga yoga.

Mark Cain, of Dripping Springs Garden, has been practicing ashtanga vinyasa yoga for 11 years, weaving the practice into his full time work as an organic market gardener. He has studied extensively with certified teacher Louise Ellis; with senior teacher Richard Freeman; and with root teacher Sri K.Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India.

Joy Fox, of Wattle Hollow, has been practicing and teaching Vipassana meditation for decades.

Cost: $120. instruction, meals and lodging included or $50 per single day, including lunch. Other options-talk with us if you want to come, but lack the finances; work trade can be arranged. Contact Joy.
 

Vipassana Retreat with Michael Freeman
April 20th - 29th, 2007

Michael Freeman is coming to teach a long Vipassana retreat.  Folks have the option of staying the entire time, or just doing a portion of it. Cost is $30/day to cover food and lodging, and dana (Pali word for donation) for the teacher. 

Michael runs a retreat center in southern New Mexico, Southwest Sangha, and has often been a guest teacher at Insight Meditation Center in Barre, MA, Esalen, and Lama Foundations.  This is a great opportunity for those yogis seeking a longer sanctuary for retreat and to dive deeper into their meditation practice.

Visit www.wattlehollow.com for more information.

Silent Day-long Meditation Practice
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday, October 22
 
On these Dharma Days, we practice Vipassana, (a form of Theravadan Buddhist meditation), alternating sitting and walking, throughout the day. The sitting periods are 30 - 40 minutes, generally, and walking periods are 30 minutes.

Dharma Day includes complete meditation instructions, a cupful of Buddhist philosophy (dharma talk), and a question and answer period. Beginners are welcome, along with our usual sangha.

Lunch is potluck - Wattle Hollow provides brown rice and peppermint tea.

No charge for Dharma Day. All are welcome, but pre-registration is appreciated.

For more information, visit wattlehollow.com

Tibetan monks Geshe Thupten Dorjee and Rinzin Dorjee will prepare the mandala of Buddha Akshobhya, between November 6 and November 17 on the 5th floor of Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus.  Dates and times for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the precise work schedule will be available shortly.

Buddha Akshobhya is the Buddha generally associated with purification.  His color is blue, and his symbol is the vajra.  The Vajra is a ritual item used in Tibetan tantric practice and represents “method” while the bell that it is always paired with represents “wisdom.” Hence, the combination of vajra and bell is meant to signify wisdom and the way it is manifested (”method”) in the world.  Tibetans believe that even viewing a mandala, with its visual representation of an inner, perfected vision of reality, has profound influences on those who are fortunate enough to view it.  Seldom, they rightly reason, do we see such spiritual energy in a fixed and human form.  But after the mandala is done, and the vision has been manifested, and it has had its influence on all who have wandered within its purview, Geshe and Rinzin will destroy it in a closing ceremony reminding us dramatically of the most profound teaching of all:  that of emptiness and impermanence.  They will then carry the the sand to a stream, probably in Wilson Park, and release it, with blessings, into the water, asking that its fundamental purifications be bestowed on our community and the world at large.

A sand mandala is a two, or sometimes three-dimensional (if the sand is sculpted), geometric pattern that is first laid out with compasses and chalk lines and straight edges, and then filled in with colored sand.  They are by no means unique to Tibetan culture, although the Tibetan monks have taken them to a level, a visionary and aesthetic level, that has rightly distinguished them on the international stage.  Rinzin is among other things, a mandala master, which means he has memorized all of the sacred geometries for the many mandalas the monks construct.  He has also become intimately familiar with all of the color symbolisms and figures that are represented in the finished mandala.

It was not until 1988, when the Dalai Lama first decreed that these mandalas could be constructed in public, that anyone in the West was able to view one as it was being assembled.  The construction of a mandala is essentially a meditation, and a very powerful one at that, and so they  have traditionally been done within sacred environments and only around a very select audience of monks and other clerics.  Because it is essentially a demanding meditation with an exacting physical dimension–a sneeze during construction is disastrous if not controlled–a mandala usually requires 4-8 monks working in shifts for a couple of days.  That Geshe and Rinzin have volunteered to do one themselves is practically unheard of; they will work several hours a day on it and finish it in the allotted time.  Because the entire process of visualization, meditation, and execution of the design is so draining, both physically and spiritually, there is a danger of their falling ill if they don’t pace themselves accordingly.